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NHVR highlights improved NHVAS rules and standards

Improvements relate to safety management systems and COR requirements

 

The revised National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) Business Rules and Standards will better align with modern safety systems when they roll out from February, according to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR).

The reforms for more than 7,600 NHVAS customers are finalised following a review of the scheme and widespread industry consultation.

“Through the NHVAS review and our engagement with industry, we identified several areas where we were able to improve the structure of the system to make it more logical and easier to understand, and to remove gaps within the framework,” NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto says.

“In particular, key changes have been made to more closely align NHVAS with safety management systems to better assist customers meet their requirements under the Chain of Responsibility laws.

“Operators enrolled in NHVAS will continue to benefit from productivity improvements linked to increased mass, maintenance and more flexible fatigue modules.

“It is pleasing to see that operators enrolled in NHVAS are regularly shown to be safer and have fewer compliance breaches than non-participating operators. This was also highlighted in the most recent industry safety survey undertaken earlier this year.

“The changes will be effective for new participants from 22 February 2021, and we will work with existing participants to transition to the revised Rules and Standards over one accreditation cycle, which can be up to two years.”


Read about the Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Working Group report, here


Some of the other key reforms being introduced include:

  • Requirements for crash and incident reporting of major and significant events
  • A register of infringements and defects notices received
  • Fit and proper person requirements as part of the assessment criteria
  • Maintenance strengthened to include daily inspection of tow couplings and drawbars. 

More details on the revised Rules and Standards, as well as the Notice of Final Rule Making, are available here.

 

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